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Friday, September 28, 2012

I really meant to take some time to update these listings. For example, I completely forgot to list San Diego Film Festival activities like tonight's Almost Famous Block Party or the Oktoberfest at the German-American Societies in El Cajon, but I've gotta get ready to get outta here, so hopefully you can explore their websites on your own. Friday through Sunday archives are after the jump. By the way, as of now (6:46pm), there are only 26 tickets available to Menomena tonight.

Living life out loud...that is to say, keeping this site up to date with all of the things to do and happenings around town while sharing my personal ups and downs and trials and tribulations...can be very strange sometimes. I try not to think too much about just how much total strangers know about me because the reality check is a little too heavy. Still, most of the time it doesn't really have much effect on what I say or do or what I post. If I feel it, it is going to be blasted out one way or another. The positive to all of that is months, or weeks, or days like today are so overwhelming when I look at my phone and there are texts and Facebook wall posts and tweets from family, friends, acquaintances, and even people I've never had the pleasure of meeting in real life, wishing me a happy birthday. So I thought I'd write a little post because this week has truly been incredible and we're only just now getting into the weekend. Lengthy text-heavy post, after the jump.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

I'm trying to keep my cool around here, but sometimes it is really challenging not to type EVERYTHING IN CAPS and use multiple exclamation points!! and tell you that everything is REALLY SUPER AWESOME!!!, but things have just been really good and I feel like I was such a downer for such a long time that I need to say when things are good, too. Of course, in our Facebook culture, you're only allowed to complain and be sad and post when things suck, so I'll try and keep it all in check. I'm not sure what exactly is on my agenda today, but it feels like a great day to go explore my city. If you have tickets to Rodriguez, drop by the merch booth to say hi. If you don't, maybe check out Bar Pink tonight for a free show or go to El Dorado where they're hosting a fundraiser to help Saul Q with the expenses to become a US citizen. (I donated and so should you!!) Tomorrow is SoundDiego Live, Friday is my actual birthday and the Menomena show, and then it's the Adams Avenue Street Fair all weekend. I'm not sure how much I'll be online during the next couple days, but here are your listings through next week. Wed/Thurs archives after the jump.

I don't know about you, but I am so looking forward to Thursday night at the Propagandist. I was trying to be funny about it being MY party, but the cool thing is, it isn't just my birthday weekend, but also at least three other members of the SoundDiego team. I am making it a little vacation in my own backyard and have a room at the Hard Rock Hotel to really live it up, and I hope that you can come celebrate with me.

The Black Sands, Todo Mundo, and Garage to Glory winners, Counterpoint Culture, will be perfoming.

Click the flyer to RSVP. (The only way to get the free drinks is with the RSVP)

Monday, September 24, 2012

What an incredible weekend! I worked the Saul Williams show, saw The Soft Pack at the Casbah, did the Ben Bridge Diamond Dash Scavenger Hunt with Darren on Saturday followed by some chillout time at Float at the Hard Rock Hotel, a walk through San Diego Entrepreneurs Day and Artwalk By The Bay, saw Bright Light Social Hour at the Casbah, returned to Artwalk, and then finished my Sunday night with Kris Kristofferson at the Belly Up. This week promises to be a great one with killer shows and my birthday (!!!) which means you're going to hear about it at least a thousand times between now and Friday. Mostly because, now that I'm such a big deal and totally internet famous, Jack Daniel's and NBC SoundDiego are honoring me with a free party with hosted Jack at the Propagandist and performances by The Black Sands and Todo Mundo on Thursday night* and I want to see all of you there! RSVP here. Archives for Monday and Tuesday are after the jump**.

(*I'm not a big deal and not internet famous, and the party is actually the monthly free SoundDiego Live show and not at all in my honor, but it's a good chance to come celebrate with me at a FREE and EARLY show. The part about the hosted Jack Daniel's is totally true.
**Super massive shoutouts to Jeff and Chase. Chase was clutch in getting next weekend's listings done so I don't have to worry about getting online while I'm out celebrating my birthday. You guys rock.)

Friday, September 21, 2012

I don't know if you've noticed, but the Casbah has really increased bookings this year. In addition to the 340 or so open nights at the Casbah, there are Casbah presented outside shows all the time: House of Blues, Belly Up, Porter's Pub, The Irenic, San Diego Woman's Club, Birch North Park Theatre, Spreckels Theatre, Brick By Brick, Soma, Soda Bar, and the Mississippi Room at the Lafayette hotel, not to mention all of the events Tim Mays books, like San Diego Music Thing, Rocktoberfest, last year's America's Cup shows and more.

Tonight (Friday), the Casbah welcomes the return of Saul Williams. This time around he's doing a spoken word tour and it promises to be a great night with the Casbah's own Ted Washington of Pruitt Igoe opening the show. Doors are at 7pm and the show is at the San Diego Womans Club on Third and Maple in Bankers Hill. There will be tickets at the door and you can get a student discount with current valid school I.D.

On Saturday night, the Casbah heads to North Park for an ALL AGES show at The Irenic (located at 3090 Polk, around the corner from the Vons on Howard). The show features Azure Ray and Soko. Again, doors are at 7pm, and though it is all ages, beer and wine are available for purchase with your valid ID.

The cool thing about these shows is that since they're all ages, they're over early, so whether you have to be up early the next day or you want to check out another show afterward, you'll be out by around 10pm.

The Casbah has a ton of upcoming shows outside the Casbah, and many of them are All Ages, so be sure to check the calendar in addition to the in-house calendar and see just how hard the Casbah is working to bring you the best in music.

Some upcoming shows include Dragonette at The Belly Up (9/24), The Head and The Heart, Blitzen Trapper, Brian John Appleby at Spreckels(10/3) , Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffit and Dam Fun at The Irenic, The Helio Sequence and Slowdance at The Irenic (10/4), Dry The River and Houndmouth at The Irenic (10/7), Kendrick Lamar at Soma (10/10), and The Raveonettes with Melody's Echo Chamber at the Belly Up (10/11). Again, check the calendar and allow some time for your head to explode a little bit.

I don't always highlight San Diego mentions in outside media sources, especially because it would have been impossible during the Olympics and such, but yesterday a couple of positive things were said about our city and I thought I'd share in case you missed them.

First, Forbes Magazine rated "America's Best Hipster Neighborhoods" and North Park dropped in at number 13 behind places like Silverlake and Williamsburg. Now, before all the hipsters cross their arms and deny that they're hipsters, the survey was actually focused, not on fixies and thrift stores, but on neighborhood walkability, coffee shops per capita, food trucks, farmers markets, locally owned bars and restaurants and number of people in "artistic occupations", which, hipster or not, I think we should all be proud of.

13. North Park, San Diego, CA
Culturally diverse North Park is home to Craftsman cottages,cafes and diners, coffee shops, several microbreweries, boutiques, and the North Park Farmers Market. The North Park Theater and the Ray Street Arts District are also bastions of creativity in the area.

Of course, we know there's so.much.more. to the entire area, from Kensington and City Heights all the way through Normal Heights, University Heights, Hillcrest, down to South Park and Golden Hill and beyond. A simple look at my listings and a peek outside your front door will remind you just how lucky we are to live here.

Second, last night Bill Clinton appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and had this to say about San Diego (starts at 22:38, but you should watch the interview for full context):

"Let me give you an example of the places in America that are doing well. Anybody here from San Diego? San Diego is viewed as, you know, one of our great Naval cities and it still is, but it is also the center of human genome research in America. Private sector, Craig Venner, was in a race in effect, with the International Government Consortium, the seeker of the genome, which was done in 2000. Started with a bipartisan commitment to federal research at the end of President Bush's term, then I put $3 Billion Dollars of your money -- and it's already, I was at Saint Jude's children's hospital in Memphis just about three weeks ago, looking at children whose lives have been saved because we now can see how their difference in- their genetic differences- can require different kind of medicines to cure the same kind of cancer. It was unbelievable. Okay, so, you've got Venner's Foundation, it's an NGO, then you've got the University of California at San Diego putting out all these scientists, you have the Republican mayor of San Diego inviting people in, and the biggest computer company, Qualcomm, headed by a Democrat, Irwin Jacobs who's an old friend of mine, and they have spawned 700 more computer companies in San Diego- why?- because you have the government, the non-profit sector, and the business sector working together to do this."
I love you, San Diego.

Last night I told you that the weekend listings weren't quite complete. I've gone through and scoured and added a bunch of weekend goodness for you. Personally I'm looking forward to hitting up as much as I can between working at the all ages Saul Williams show, The Soft Pack at the Casbah, the Ben Bridge Diamond Dash scavenger hunt (better watch out, I think me and Darren have a clear edge here), Entrepreneur Day, ArtWalk By The Bay, Azure Ray at the Irenic, The Bright Light Social Hour at the Casbah, and Kris Kristofferson at the Belly Up. Needless to say, I should be dead on my feet come Monday if I can hit up all the things on the agenda. Archives for Friday through Sunday are after the jump, and I'm hoping to have next weekend's listings up early so I can enjoy my birthday week as much as possible with the Rodriguez show at the Casbah on Wednesday, our SoundDiego Live event at the Propagandist on Thursday and my hotel room at the Hard Rock Hotel, and my actual birthday at the Casbah with Menomena. I hope you take advantage of all of this goodness this city has to offer.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Today has been a busy day! I had a great Casbah meeting today and it looks like our new website will be up very soon. We'll also work to build an email newsletter so you can't say you missed out on a show because nobody told you about it. I also just saw Searching For Sugar Man about Sixto Rodriguez who will be at the Casbah next Wednesday and has an incredible story. Even if you don't have tickets to the show, I recommend the movie, and fret not, because I'm pretty sure Rodriguez will be back in town in the spring. It is also nearing the end of San Diego Restaurant Week. Last night I had Bankers Hill with Jeff, which was amazing, and tonight I'm heading to Busalacchi's with Chase. I know that there are SO MANY things I need to add to this weekend's listings (Cricket Wireless, ArtWalk, Entrepreneur Day, the Ben Bridge Diamond Dash, Roots Factory and more), but I don't want to be late for our reservation, but I want you to be able to mull over most of this weekend's options. I promise I'll update tomorrow. Lastly, I just wanted to let everyone know that Rocktoberfest is back! The lineup is gonna be great, but we can't announce it until next week. If you buy your tickets blindly, without knowing the lineup, they're only $5!! It's taking place on October 20 in the Ace parking lot behind West Coast Tavern in North Park. It's a 21+ event and you'll love the lineup, so get your tickets now. Once we announce the lineup, tickets jump to $15, so why not take a $5 chance? Get those tickets at SDrocktoberfest.com. Thursday archives are after the jump. Major hat tip to Jordan and Jeff for all of their help.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

On August 8th, the Ché Café transformed into an ocean as waves of sweaty fans crashed against each other, singing and shoving along to American Art, Weatherbox’s debut album. The album was released in 2007 by Doghouse Records, but was recently re-released on vinyl through Youth Conspiracy Records. In honor of the reissue, Weatherbox played the entire album from top to bottom. Brian Warren, the band’s frontman, was barely audible at times, as the audience sang every lyric along with him. As the night progressed, Weatherbox was sustained by the crowd’s enthusiasm. By “The Clearing,” the third song on the album, the windows of the Ché were hot and steamy. When Brian screamed the first lines in “Wolftank, Doff Thy Name,” a good portion of the crowd was shirtless. The crowd only settled during Brian’s solo performance, titled “Untitled,” only to reignite full throttle as the opening riff of “Moments Before the Smashing of Future Ryan” was played. The energy never died; in fact, it doubled for “Trippin’ the Life Fantastic,” Weatherbox’s final song. There was not a single dull moment during the show and new and old Box fans left the Ché more than satisfied.

Thursday night brings guitar-based 'new folk' guru Ben Chasny and his act Six Organs of Admittance to the Casbah in benefit of their 28th (!!!!! in 14 years !!!!!) studio effort, Ascent. Hailed as '...one of America's best-ever Psychedelic Syndacites' (Pitchfork), SOoA's sound is characterized mainly by drony guitars, epic kit work and understated vocals. More from Pitch Perfect:

"Six Organs of Admittance's Ascent is the rollicking
realization of the Six Organs full band, electric experience. Six
Organs as an electric entity is not without precedent. Ben Chasny
regularly performs with a full, electric band, often cascades an
electric guitar solo in the middle of an acoustic jam, and has recorded
entire sides of electric drone. This element goes all the way back to
2002, when a short-lived rock version of Six Organs (with the members of
Comets on Fire) toured the West Coast and etched a few demos to
tape before moving on. Ten years later, with the idea to record new
songs as a full rock band firmly entrenched in his mind, Chasny warped
over to Tim Green's Louder Studios with members of Comets
as his backing band and emerged with Ascent. And no, these aren't dusty
old 2002 moments with the dust blown off. From the opening red storm of
"Waswasa" to the sentinel strength of "Even If You Knew" and the sensual lilt of "Visions (From Io),"
the sound of this Six Organs is that of full-tilt rock band. The fun
and fury of today's electric, five-piece Six Organs of Admittance is
evidenced in every molten groove."

Check out the track 'One Thousand Birds' from their newest album here.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

San Diego Music Thing has wrapped and I need to breathe a sigh of relief and share with you some things I garnered from the experience. This is going to be a very text intensive post. For those of you who just come to this site for my show listings, please just move along. For those of you who like to hear my voice and my opinion, well, it has been awhile, so I'll indulge you in as much as I can be self-indulgent and share with you the highlights of the San Diego Music Thing panels and keynotes.

The funny thing about being a blogger is that you get all kinds of negative noise in the online space, but when I meet people face to face, one at a time, or see old friends, the resounding feeling is that I have been a bit distant, that I haven't been sharing things, not writing enough, like I'm withholding the good, bad, ugly, and beautiful that has been going on in my life and my experiences in this music community. While I'm gonna keep the private stuff private, perhaps I can bring back that personal touch. So here it is, after the jump.

The weekend was just jam packed with greatness. I did the San Diego Music Thing, The Walkmen at House of Blues, FM 94/9's Independence Jam, Pants Karaoke at Eleven (which was especially awesome this week as it was hosted by Rob Crow so Scotty Pants could enjoy his birthday), and though I try to take Mondays off (read: sleep), yesterday I was bright eyed and bushy tailed and after breakfast (!!! I was up early enough to make breakfast!!!), I enjoyed the beautiful day with a jaunt to Lestat's and Darren and I discovered that there is a ping pong table at the very air conditioned Adams Avenue Rec Center. (Last week we went to three different rec centers to find they didn't have ping pong or really anything to offer besides open basketball. Adams Avenue Rec Center is open M-F, noon-8pm, and totally free! Mark was the attendant and played some games with us. They have equipment but I recommend taking your own balls, just in case. ) After that, I spent SEVEN hours putting together my San Diego Music Thing notes into my post, so I hope that you take the time to read through it all and maybe check out the links because there was so much great information. Around 10:30 I was done laptopping and headed to Eleven to catch Jeans Wilder and Barbarian (who are both amazing) while enjoying $3 pints of Monkey Paw's Ryemenocerous rye pilsner. So yes, things are good, things are cookin', and there's so much more to look forward to this great month. Tuesday-Thursday archives are after the jump.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

I know that FM 94/9's Independence Jam isn't until Sunday, but I wanted to get you set times so you can plan your weekend accordingly. There are still tickets available for the show which takes place at the Junior Seau Memorial Amphitheatre at the Oceanside Pier. There are also tickets to take a bus from either Downtown or North Park to avoid the long drive. Just click the flyer for tickets and information.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

I know that at this point, Father John Misty needs no preview since the available tickets for the show have sold out and the Casbah will certainly reach the remaining capacity with San Diego Music Thing badgeholders and wristbands, but how can I not post this? I wanted to do a handful of previews for tonight like I did for Friday, but the wi-fi at the Lafayette sucks and I really needed sleep after being awake something like 44 hours. I'm heading back to the San Diego Music Thing in a short bit, so I hope to see some of you there. It should be noted that Pinback presale tickets are sold out, so if you plan on attending with your badge, get there early (same goes for the Casbah). Once the venues hit capacity, they'll flip to one out/one in and there's too much great music all over tonight to be stuck waiting in a line.

Friday, September 14, 2012

As you can tell from my posts, I've been pretty busy with the bloggy blog, but that's only because I was being such a slacker the past couple weeks and it occurred to me that I better have something to show for myself this weekend. I fell back into a terrible sleep pattern, so Wednesday's all-nighter turned into a too-long afternoon nap yesterday, so I used Thursday's all-nighter to get through all of my email (finally!!) so I should be good to go at the Music Thing if I can find an afternoon nap at some point. I mentioned yesterday that the San Diego Music Thing website isn't quite smart-phone friendly, so I posted all of the WORKSHOP TIMES and MUSIC SHOWCASES so you can see them on your phone with ease. I also noticed that this weekend there is the San Diego Bayfair at Misson Bay, the Spirits of Mexico Festival in Old Town, Coronado Art Walk at the Ferry Landing in Coronado, and the Taste 2012 kickoff to San Diego Restaurant Week tonight at the Broadway Pier, so you can investigate those further at the links. I'm going to put all of the listings after the jump, so just click 'read more' to see them all. I probably won't be updating these again throughout the weekend unless it turns out I missed something crucial.

I know I'm busy talking about SDMT this weekend, but if I don't post this now, I'll keep forgetting, sooo....

Filter Magazine and the Hard Rock Hotel have once again teamed up to bring a killer lineup of music to San Diego's greedy music snobs (I kid, I kid). This time around it will be with Divine Fits, the new project of Spoon's Britt Daniel, Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks. As usual, the show is completely free, just click the flyer to land on the RSVP page. You can expect a huge turnout for this one, so get there early. The show is on October 8 with doors opening at 9pm.

About a year ago I caught wind of some free music by Ben Taylor, perhaps via NoiseTrade or some other give-us-your-email-we'll-give-you-a-song type site, and I've been loosely paying attention to him ever since. The son of James Taylor and Carly Simon, Ben's music stands on its own and you can see him at 10:30pm on Friday night as part of the San Diego Music Thing at the Sunset Temple for an all ages show. Here's what his press release has to say:

Listening is the follow up to Taylor’s critically acclaimed 2008 release The Legend Of Kung Folk - Part 1 (the Killing Bite). His latest effort seamlessly merges the sounds and styles of folk, pop, soul, urban, reggae and country/western, running the gamut from sonically spacious acoustic numbers to multi-layered vocals and fresh beats.

Ben Taylor’s music is marked by a noted honesty and authenticity of feeling, starting with his tuneful and expressive voice, the kind of voice that makes its impact with the smallest turn of a whispered phrase. His memorable melodies, immaculate acoustic guitar playing and insightful, honest lyrics have been captivating fans since the moment he embarked on this journey ten years ago. As the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon, Ben has led a life so far in which music has always played a central role. His wit and skill as a singer-songwriter showcases an artist who is comfortable both in his own skin and with his impressive musical legacy. His acclaimed previous releases comprise his debut album 2003’s Famous Among The Barns, 2005’s Another Run Around The Sun, and 2008’s The Legend of Kung Folk, Part 1 (The Killing Bite). Highlights from his previous albums include appearances on Good Morning America, The Tonight Show, The CBS Early Show, Last Call with Carson Daly and Howard Stern. Ben also made his acting debut with a recurring role on NBC’s American Dreams and has appeared in the pages of People Magazine, Vogue and even on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. His reviews and raves have been steady for over a decade now with more to come. Ben Taylor has previously toured with Sheryl Crow, Blues Traveler and Ziggy Marley among others.

I've definitely talked about He's My Brother, She's My Sister a lot on this site and on SoundDiego.com, but in case you haven't heard of the band, I thought I'd share their press release with you. They're really a talented bunch and I've seen them several times in San Diego and even a couple times in LA, and they're certainly worth catching if you haven't seen them before. The band performs at 10:30pm on Friday at Bar Pink as part of the San Diego Music Thing.

The band has signed to Park the Van Records for the release of their forthcoming debut LP, Nobody Dances in this Town, and are embarking on a nationwide tour behind the album, including a performance at Austin City Limits.

Featuring sibling vocalists and a tap dancing drummer, the eclectic troupe exudes the earnestness of folk, the colorfulness of glam rock, the rawness of blues, the theatrics of cabaret, and the hip shake of rock-a-billy. Brother and sister Robert Kolar (guitar/kick drum) and Rachel Kolar (tambourine) split vocal duties, Lauren Brown adds full-body percussion with her simultaneous drumming and tap-dancing, Oliver Newell plucks the stand up bass and Aaron Robinson plays lead guitar on a lap slide. In the past year, the band has played 150+ live performances, with near-capacity crowds in 16 major US cities. They have toured extensivel, sharing the stage with Neko Case, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, Charles Bradley, The Blow, Local Natives, Dawes, Dr. Dog, My Morning Jacket, and many others.

Tonight Kevin Hellman, president of the San Diego Music Foundation, sent an email out to badgeholders with instructions about pickup. There are some points that are important to emphasize, namely that presale tickets for Pinback and Father John Misty are SOLD OUT. This is the email (my emphasis).

Just a quick note about badge pick up for the San Diego Music Thing. Our registration area at the Lafayette Hotel will be open from 10am-7pm on Friday and Saturday to pick up your badges. They should be preprinted and ready to go when you arrive. The hotel is located at 2223 El Cajon Blvd., in North Park. Please bring an ID, so our volunteer staff won't have any trouble getting you your badge.

One thing to note: If you plan to go to the Father Johny Misty show or the Pinback show, please plan to get to those venues early. We have presold 50% of each venue for both shows, and capacity is limited. After presale tickets, badges will get priority, followed by wristbands. However once the room is at capacity, you may get turned away. So please plan to arrive early at those venues, if you are going to attend either of those shows.

We'll see you this weekend for the 5th annual San Diego Music Thing.

Please understand what this means. The Casbah's capacity is 250, so if half the tickets were presold, there's not a lot of wiggle room for a mad rush of people. Most venues will observe a one out/one in policy once they reach capacity, but if there's a band you MUST see this weekend, you might consider settling in to that one venue for the night. Naturally, this draws the ire of badgeholders, but ideally this event will grow such that there won't be any need for individual show presales and we'll have an overwhelming response to the badge system, but until that day, this is the way the Thing's gotta fly.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The first time I saw Ume was in 2009. They were opening for The Meat Puppets and Dead Confederate at the Belly Up, which was certainly no simple task, and I was enthralled. The band is from Austin and despite vocalist/guitarist Lauren's tiny stature, the chick rocks. Hard. Sometimes I think to myself that it is never too late to pick up an instrument, and then I see a woman like Lauren shred and I know there is just really no point. Certainly she's got the cute thing covered, but don't underestimate just how fierce the band can be on stage. Ume has been back around a few times since then, but here's a clip of the band performing at the San Diego Music Foundation/Bar Pink/Casbah party at Lustre Pearl at SXSW in 2011.

You can see Ume on Friday night at Bar Pink at 12:30am as part of the San Diego Music Thing.

And you have to check out this awesome clip of Ume on No Reservations With Anthony Bourdain:

Another out of town band passing through for the San Diego Music Thing is Strange Vine from Fresno. The first impression that I got from Toby and Ian is that they were a diligent DIY band. These days, it's easy to find my email address, but it wasn't always so and so getting a direct invite to a show from a band always carries a little more weight with me. Plus they were friends with my friends in Rademacher who told me I had to go see them at a show they played at Bar Pink. That first show I got there late and missed their whole set, but still met them and they made sure I left with their record. Sure enough we kept in touch and without fail I get a text whenever they're coming back to town, and they played at my SDMT showcase last year at the Soda Bar. I love these guys and I think you'll dig their bluesy rock which certainly always gets comparisons to the Black Keys.

Find them on Facebook here, and see them Friday night at U-31 at 9:40 pm as part of the San Diego Music Thing.

There are so many great bands performing this weekend at the San Diego Music Thing. We can hope that venues/stage managers/sound techs/bands all cooperate to keep to the schedule that was given so that you can realistically plan your own adventure. There are several out of town bands performing, so I thought I'd at least share a few of those with you.

The first band is NO. The band is from Los Angeles, though lead vocalist Bradley is originally from New Zealand. When you hear the band, it is hard not to instantly associate them with bands like the National, but without sounding like a rip-off of the band. I first saw the band perform at the Invisible Children benefit at the Troubadour in December, and later booked them to play a night at the Casbah in January. They're so polished on stage that my instant response was that this band is going to be big (which was also my instinct the first time I saw Imagine Dragons, Gardens and Villa, Foster The People, and Races).

This week has been so good and though I'm thoroughly excited for the San Diego Music Thing and FM 94/9's Independence Jam, I am hoping our local weather reporters are completely wrong because nobody wants to be running around all weekend with boob sweat and swamp ass with east coast style humidity. Yes, crass, I know, but let's be real. I might end up in that Lafayette Pool with all of my clothes on if that's what it takes to keep cool and enjoy all of the festivities. I already posted all of the San Diego Music Thing shows in a separate post, but I decided to add set times here, too. My site is easily accessible on mobile devices, and if you saw all of the missprints in the SDMT official program, you'll probably be better off keeping these handy. Come to think of if, I'll probably add the workshop schedule up, just so it's there. Anyway, thanks to Jordan and Jeff for the help as always. Thursday archives are after the jump.

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

As I mentioned in another post, the San Diego Music Thing site is a bit challenging to read on a smart phone (or at least on mine), so I thought I'd repost the workshop and panel schedule here, since my site will format it for mobile (thanks, Google!). You can see the full lineup after the jump. I have to say I hadn't really read through the final panelist lineups before and I got really excited. If you're in a new band, you don't want to miss Tim Mays at Music Industry 101, and I'm happy to see some out of town friends on panels, like Nicole Polous of Sideways Media, Dead Air Dave of U.N.C.L.E. Promo, and I'm happy to see the return of David Dufresne of Bandzoogle, Garrett Capone of Crush Management, and Nic Adler of the Roxy. These panels are definitely worth your time, so find a way to be there.

The weekend is nearly upon us and so it's time to talk about the San Diego Music Thing. I've actually been a little bit surprised at how so many of my own friends don't know about or understand what exactly goes on, so here's the basic rundown.

Friday, September 14 and Saturday, September 15, sees the return of the San Diego Music Thing. Think of it less as a "festival" and more of a conference. In the daytime, there are workshops and keynote speakers at the Lafayette Hotel. Topics like Music Industry 101, Marketing, Publishing, and Touring will all be covered. Keynote speakers include Martin Atkins of Public Image Ltd, Wayne Kramer of MC5, and Chuck D of Public Enemy.

By night, the city's music venues open up with showcases featuring local and touring bands. You can see the full schedule here, but I'll also put them after the jump so you can get them on your mobile device easily throughout the weekend.

It seems the biggest point of confusion is the ticketing, so just to clear things up, you can buy tickets here. You can buy a wristband for the full weekend for $55 or for just one day for $35. These wristbands get you into all of the workshops, panels, and keynotes as well as ANY of the nighttime showcases (based on venue capacity, of course). There are also PRESALE tickets for certain showcases available on the same ticketing page. This is recommended if you're not interested or available for the daytime events and you know you just want to go to one venue for the night. For the showcases that don't have presales, they too, will be charging cover at the doors for people without wristbands. The cover charges are usually $10 per venue. If you have a wristband, you do not need to purchase additional venue tickets, but venues will be subject to capacity so plan your nights accordingly. It's gonna be tough hopping around, but I think I'll be hitting up Bar Pink, Casbah, and Sunset Temple on Friday night, with Bar Pink, Claire de Lune, and the Casbah on my Saturday agenda. Of course, that could all change depending on transportation, so we'll see, but you can be sure I'll be Foursquaring/Tweeting all weekend.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

I haven't been updating much in the past week, I know, but sometimes there is nothing new to say that I can't say in 140 characters on Twitter or as I checkin on Foursquare. I have had a really great week, so maybe there's a direct proportion to my posts and actually living life, but this is also my work, I know, so I'll get more updates up this week, especially with such a huge weekend coming up. Tuesday and Wednesday archives are after the jump.

Friday, September 07, 2012

For such a short week, it sure has been a long week! Most of the tourists have gone home and San Diego is still just as vibrant as ever. There were some great shows this week, and some milestones, too, like my niece's first week of kindergarten (!!) and I'd be remiss if I didn't give a huge congratulations to the Tower Bar on their 10 year anniversary. This weekend is another great one, so get out and support live music in San Diego. Saturday through Monday archives are after the jump.

Thursday, September 06, 2012

FYF fest in Los Angeles was quite an impressive event. Although I've never been to Coachella, this is what I imagined it to be like, with multiple stages, vendors, beer garden, VIP tents and over 40 bands & DJs. Even with all of that talent, my primary focus was only on two bands... I'll explain:

Growing up in Chula Vista in the 90's exposed many of us to the hardcore scene with local bands like Amenity, Unbroken, I Wish I, Impel, No Sympathy, and record labels like Vinyl Communications, Revelation and Three One G. The refinement of this sound for me, distilled two seminal bands: Quicksand (NYC) and Refused (Sweden). Both have been dormant for close to 15 years after messy splits.

Suffice it to say, neither of these bands were expected to ever reunite. Refused resurfaced earlier this year at Coachella and Quicksand at the Revelation Records 25th Anniversary show series in Pomona. When I heard that they would both be on this bill, I HAD to be there. You may not recognize me after a facemelt of that magnitude... Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

I am having an absolutely relaxing Tuesday after all of the craziness this weekend. Did you have fun? I hope so because I sure did. Friday I was backstage at the M83 show and got to shoot some pretty amateur photos, then had a late night dinner at Phil's BBQ, then dropped by the psychedelic show at the Casbah. On Saturday I hung out with family all day in Shelter Island capped off by dinner at Point Loma Sea Foods, checked out the So Cal Music Festival at night, then closed the night at the Soda Bar for Cheap Girls performing for Awesome Fest 666. Sunday was another family day, this time around PB where we had drinks at Barefoot Bar and Grill and hung out at my sister's until I had to work at the sold out Tallest Man On Earth show, followed by Two Gallants at the Casbah. I closed out my weekend on Monday with a day at the zoo and the end of nighttime zoo before heading to work at Soda Bar grabbing Luigi's on my way. So yeah, maybe I missed out by not going to FYF, but it felt good to be a tourist in my own city and support local businesses along the way, all of which I thought I'd mention since San Diego Restaurant Week is right around the corner. I can't wait to see AA Bondy tonight so I hope to see some of you there! Tuesday through Thursday archives are after the jump.

Saturday, September 01, 2012

In case you're planning on heading down to the So Cal Music Festival today in the East Village, set times were released earlier this week. I'm just glad it's happening so everyone can just stop saying "So Cal" already. In all seriousness, it's going to be a good time, so if you haven't made plans, just grab your tickets at the door. Also keep in mind there was a DUI checkpoint leaving the Gaslamp at 1st Avenue, so don't be stupid. Since my cousin is in town I decided to skip FYF, so I suppose I'll see you downtown later.